Burn:
Lightning Bolt
Never cutting this card. Double Bolt, Double Call to mind for Bolt, 2x double Bolt is a way to kill people pretty dead, with not much mana, which means you can land that late pyro, cast some draw spells to charge up, and STILL kill them. You need that one-mana burn to kill people quickly. You just can't afford to kick a burst and call to mind for the win.
Burst Lightning.
Not necessarily a solid lock. 4 damage for one card, or 2 damage for 1 mana, is pretty good. Kicking a Burst at the end of their turn is pretty good vs control. Being able to kill some creature on their-end-of-turn-2 on the draw, or dealing with a Goblin Guide T1 on the draw is really important. Doming them for 2 end of turn just to feed the graveyard or ascension is also pretty key. There are alot of ways to spend mana, so having cheap ways to charge is good.
It could lose to some of the card advantage or PA-pumping spells. I definately side it out vs control/ramp.
Pyroclasm
Doesn't do damage to the player. Can be dead or less useful in some matchups. Does what it is supposed to do better than many other cards. I often play it T2 against one creature, in deadly matchups, so in that scenario, Arc Trail would translate into 1-2 damage to the head. That is not huge, compared to pyroclasm killing 7 tokens, and letting me bolt the Avenger of Zendikar to finish it off. Doubled Pyros kill 0/4 walls, and pretty much everything that costs 5 or less but Leatherback Baloth. I have cast it just to charge up the Ascension, but those are not good times.
Arc Trail
Can go to the dome against control, but if you're doing that, Staggershock seems clearly better.
Arc is a sorcery, so that has some limitations. The only reasons I could see to play it, Pyroclasm just seems better. Arc Trail may be a better main-deck card than Pyroclasm, but Staggershock seems like a better main-deck card than either. For the sideboard, Pyroclasm does the job a whole lot better than Arc Trail, so it seems like Arc Trail can't really compete on either level. The only time I'd want Arc Trail is if I was in super-hedge mode, while still being terrified of aggro. Arc Trail comes down earlier than Staggershock, so you can use it as your only burn spell against aggro in a better way.
Staggershock:
If it is countered (due to illegal targets, or counterspells) you don't get the rebound, which will be important to know against decks like vampires, that sacrifice their own guys.
The Ascension-Powering, and dome-caving powers of Staggershock can't be denied. It is more efficient than Burst for the 4 damage, but the +1 turn you'd have to wait to kill the creature, or to get the second ping could be enough time for them to kill you. That said, Pyroclasm probably isn't going to prevent them from killing you, and being an instant means you can kill Creeping Tar Pits, Lavaclaw Reaches, and the like.
It seems pretty reasonable to move Staggershock to the maindeck these days, replacing Pyroclasm, and something (Spell Pierce?)
Burn Conclusion:
Main-deck 4x Lightning bolt, 4x Staggershock, 2x Burst lightning (at least)
Sideboard 4x Pyroclasm, 2x burst lightning (if not main)
Probably Main-deck 2 more Burst Lightning, in place of Spell Pierce?
Draw:
Preordain
Can we have more of these? Probably the best draw spell in the deck. It's only one mana, it gives you three shots at what you need, and it gets rid of the chaff with scry. Good early, good late, one of the better topdecks when you're in a bad spot.
Foresee
This is pretty expensive at 4 mana. 3 is the most I'd play, because it is pretty clunky. In a deck with mana leak, the earliest you really want to cast it is turn 6. There is almost no other card you'd rather draw late, but almost any card draw spell will chain into something else. 8-seeing, or 12-seeing should be a guaranteed win. Could easily go to 2 and not blink too much.
See Beyond
Worst draw spell in the deck. Nets you even on cards, for 1U, at sorcery speed. Has a good chance of shuffling the wrong card away. Causes you to keep omni-land hands, because you'll be able to shuffle the land away, but then you just draw more land, and that plan goes to heck. I really want to do some math on this card
Into the Roil
Best utility spell in the deck currently. Solves almost any problem. Not amazing vs comes into play effects. Not amazing vs sacrifice. Not amazing vs Ratchet Bomb. But it solves a ton of problems, while cantripping. It can also be used defensively to save your own Ascension from removal when you don't have a counterspell. Around 70% of the time I cast it kickered, but it still works unkickered, against full-pump leeches, or poison guys, or 7/1 Tramplers. It's a huge tempo swing, for a cantrip. I have a very hard time cutting this, though I'm sure there are some matchups where it's probably a good idea to cut it in favor of something...
Twitch
Twiddle + cantrip is really not terrible. One of the better ways UR can answer titans, since countering them often doesn't work. Tap them down on declare attackers, draw a card, that might do the same thing again.
It can also tap an opponent out so they can't counter you, or tap a mana creature in upkeep, to keep people off the magic 6 mana.
Really, anything with a cantrip is about as good as See Beyond. And it will have the advantage of not shuffling your library most likely, as well as doing whatever is being done from the card in general. See Beyond digs you another card deep, but costs 2, is a sorcery, and causes a ton of misplays, and undoes scrying.
Treasure Hunt
The EV on this card blind says that it draws 1.6 cards on average. I would really like to look into this a bit more, to see how well it works for my deck specifically. (The math would probably be fun). Halimar Depths is a card I'm evolving my playstyle around. I used to play it T1, but just like preordain, it's just so much better turn 4 or so. Treasure hunt is probably the same way. Play out your lands, cast card draw or removal spells to stabilize, then Treasure Hunt to refill and go again. Halimar Depths also works well with Scalding Tarn.
The downside of this card is that it will only ever draw you one "business" spell. See Beyond lets you keep land-heavy hands, and shuffle the land away. Treasure Hunt will be a completely different card than See Beyond. It is possible that the stock of Foresee will rise with Treasure Hunts inclusion, because you will just end up having quite a few more lands in play. You have no real way to get rid of any of the lands you draw, so you'll just end up playing them out.
Draw Conclusion:
4x Preordain
3x Foresee
4x Into the Roil
4x Treasure Hunt
I think I'm going to try Treasure Hunt out for a while. It will require a different mindset to be sure, and It will misfire, or draw only a revealed Mana Leak, which is about as bad as it will get. I might cut a Foresee, but it seems like it will be even better with Treasure Hunt than See Beyond. I'll try and start at 3 for the time being, and see if I am still staring at Foresees on turn 5 with 3 mana in play.
Sideboard: I don't think I'll put any draw into the sideboard. I'm not sure when I would bring a card like Twitch in, and what I would want to take out for it. Probably burn, because taking out ITR for Twitch seems counterproductive.
Countermagic/Answers:
Mana Leak
This is the gold standard for countermagic right now. It's cheap, counters anything, isn't too mana intensive, and allows a ton of bluffing, since most of the time you don't have it. You also end up tapping quite a bit of mana on your turn, to cast your sorcery speed draw, so it's important that the spell be cheap to fill in.
Spell Pierce
Spell Pierce is awesome. It comes out of nowhere, counters countermagic, planeswalkers, end of turn burn. It's better than Dispel, because Dispel really only has one function. Spell Pierce has 3 or 4. It loses alot of its luster late, and it cannot counter a titan, which is important in practically every matchup.
Negate
Hard-countering is important in some matchups. It's just better than Spell Pierce against control, because noone does anything until 6-8 mana or so, or without Mana leak backup. Like Spell Pierce, also very bad against Titans.
Mindbreak Trap
In the hard-counter game, this comes out on top of Deprive and Cancel. Paying one more to counter uncounterable things is plenty good late, and the alternate casting cost is not irrelevant. Picking up a land is not awesome on Deprive, but it would be the second best option. (Resetting Halimar Depths isn't terrible) Mindbreak is great against ramp (disallowing Summoning trap, countering 1st-2nd traps, depending on how the turn went), and is fine at a 1-3 of in the sideboard. It is also guaranteed to freak people out.
Demolish
If I'm running Mindbreak Trap, Demolish might not be as necessary for MGE's Eye of Ugun.
Mimic Vat is pretty easy to bounce with ITR. I don't have any creatures to kill, so the worst it can be typically is acidic slime, or some sort of discard.
Ratchet bomb, Valakut, and Emeria are the big problems, and all of these can be dealt with with a 3-of or so Demolish.
Flashfreeze
Hard counter against Primeval Titan
Countermagic/Answers Conclusion:
4x Mana Leak
1-3x Spell Pierce or Negate
Sideboard: 2-3x Mindbreak Trap
Sideboard: 2-3x Demolish
1-3 Spell Pierce or Negate.
So what does it look like now?
4x Pyromancer Ascension (Almost forgot this...)
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Staggershock
3x Burst Lighting
4x Preordain
2x Foresee
4x Into the Roil
4x Treasure Hunt
2x Call to Mind
4x Mana Leak
2x Spell Pierce
8x Island
4x Halimar Depths
7x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
Sideboard:
4x Pyroclasm
1x Burst Lightning
3x Mindbreak Trap
3x Demolish
2xSpell Pierce
1x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1x Foresee
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